U.S Now: Gas Shortage and Overwhelmed Transit Systems coz sandy

he Northeast struggled to get back on its feet today following the wallop it took from Sandy, but was hampered by miles long lines at the few gas stations that had power, an overwhelmed mass transit system and still massive power outages.


Throughout New Jersey, the hardest hit state, motorists roamed for hours looking for a gas station that had power and still had gasoline. And when a station was located, the line to the pump could last two hours.

Those with gas who had to commute into the New York City encountered a major traffic jam at the Lincoln Tunnel, one of only two entrances to the city from New Jersey that hadn't been closed down because of damage from Sandy.

Tens of thousands of motorists tried to beat Mayor Bloomberg's edict that after 6 a.m. cars must have three people in them or be turned away, creating a pre-dawn line for the tunnel that was backed up for more than a mile.

Even travel within the city as gridlocked as the mayor's three-passenger rule extended to bridges into Manhattan, making a trip for Brooklyn or Queens into heart of the city last several hours.

The first limited bus and train service in the suburbs came to life, but many of the buses were quickly filled to capacity, creating enormous lines to get on the buses, and forcing drivers to skip stops and roll past hordes of waiting passengers.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recognized the seriousness of the transportation gridlock.

"I am declaring a transportation state of emergency and authorizing the MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] to waive fares on rails, subways through the end of the week, Thursday and Friday," the governor said.

Hurricane Sandy: Full Coverage

New York City buses serve 2.3 million people on an average day, and two days after the storm they were trying to handle many of the 5.5 million daily subway riders, too.

"We are going to need some patience and some tolerance," Cuomo said.

Nevertheless, Cuomo assured New Yorkers, "The worst is behind us."

The storm, which struck Monday, has been blamed for at least 74 deaths and put more than 8.5 million people in the dark.

Power outages now stand at more than 6 million homes with outages as far west as Wisconsin in the Midwest and as far south as the Carolinas.

Cuomo also announced that FEMA will start the delivery of 1 million gallons of water and 1 million pounds of food to seniors running out of food in high-rise buildings without power.

New York's LaGuardia Airport reopened today, the last of the region's major airports to resume air service.

But schools remain shut throughout the region.

Severe problems persisted with widespread flooding crippling Hoboken, N.J. Utility crews and tree crews worked to remove trees that had toppled throughout New Jersey and were entangled with power lines and had pulled down utility poles.

On Wednesday night the Coast Guard confirmed to ABC News that an oil facility in Sewaran, N.J., owned by Motiva, spilled oil into New York harbor. Motiva said that two diesel storage tanks were damaged during the storm.

Motiva released a statement to ABC News, saying, an "unknown amount" of diesel has been released and they are working with local agencies "to conduct a thorough inspection and damage assessment of its petroleum terminals that were situated in the path of Hurricane Sandy."


Overall says Peterson, more than 500 have been rescued from the barrier islands as of Wednesday.

"Our biggest concern is we want to get everyone out of the barrier islands. People are still there. We've gotten 500 people from two barrier islands. We have crews out there, zodiac boats, National Guard Blackhawk helicopters," he said.

President Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie toured the devastated Jersey shore Wednesday and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will travel to Connecticut and New York later today to meet with state and local officials and view ongoing response and recovery efforts to superstorm Sandy.

In Connecticut, some residents of Fairfield returned home in kayaks and canoes to inspect widespread damage left by retreating floodwaters that kept other homeowners at bay.

"The uncertainty is the worst," said Jessica Levitt, who was told it could be a week before she can enter her house. "Even if we had damage, you just want to be able to do something. We can't even get started."